Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Back to the Point: Spain
The point of this blog was to put up our pix from our trip to Spain last September in a piecemeal fashion so that viewers could understand what they're looking at and not suffer vacation photo burnout. Now that we're planning another trip to Spain in six weeks, I'll have to hurry to get my pix up. Let's see how I do.
Breakfast in Madrid: Breakfast is not a hearty plate of pancakes and sausage. It's more often a quick pastry and a cafe con leche. Since I don't drink coffee, I end up with fresh-squeezed orange juice. You don't sit at a table with a grumpy waitress coddling you until you're hard-boiled. Instead, you head for a place like La Mallorquina in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and eat your pastry standing up as if you were in a bar, except that it is all baked goods and coffee. More detail here.
Our first breakfast in Spain at La Mallorquina on August 31, 2009:
The scene in La Mallorquina during our 1st breakfast:
Here is a treat from La Mallorquina on our last day in Madrid before heading home (9/11/09):
Breakfast in Madrid: Breakfast is not a hearty plate of pancakes and sausage. It's more often a quick pastry and a cafe con leche. Since I don't drink coffee, I end up with fresh-squeezed orange juice. You don't sit at a table with a grumpy waitress coddling you until you're hard-boiled. Instead, you head for a place like La Mallorquina in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and eat your pastry standing up as if you were in a bar, except that it is all baked goods and coffee. More detail here.
Our first breakfast in Spain at La Mallorquina on August 31, 2009:
The scene in La Mallorquina during our 1st breakfast:
Here is a treat from La Mallorquina on our last day in Madrid before heading home (9/11/09):
Judias Verdes Update
The beans are coming along. My mother has requested updated photos. What I have discovered is that even with a fancy new camera, beans are very difficult to photograph in a meaningful way. We now have several 2-3 inch bean pods and a whole bunch smaller than an inch size. We have many flowers. The beans have now climbed to the very top of our 7-foot bean sky-scraper. Our next problem will be figuring out what a ripe bean looks like. Click on any photo to see full-sized.
Monday, July 19, 2010
New Camera!
Click on any picture to see full-sized!
Lisa hanging out at the end of a bighorn sheep skeleton thorax.
I've passed the entire digital photography revolution trying to make do with a small point-and-shoot camera. The two I've had have both been decent cameras, but the truth is that they were limited. I used to do a lot of manual photography with an SLR film camera, sometimes with good results. After I switched to digital, I was mostly happy with the many advantages of digital. However, over the years, I found myself trying to replicate shots of yore on my point-and-shoot digital, but I was always disappointed. Then, about 6 months ago, my friend, Cheryl, took a real digital photography course at the local university. This was a "real" class in that a digital SLR camera was necessary. Before long, I was green with envy over her fancy new camera. This lead me to long for lost capabilities from old days. I finally coughed up the dinero necessary for a high quality camera, and I must say I'm thrilled with the results. After but four days of ownership, here are a few pix I've taken. Some of these could've never been achieved with a point-and-shoot. The downside is that this new device is massive. I bought it with plans of taking closeups of all the food we eat in Spain in September, but I'm already ruing the colossal size. Isn't there some mythological character who is damned for all eternity to carry something heavy around? Or maybe it's more like I'll be the guy from the chain gang trying to make my escape with an 80 pound camera chained to my leg.
Bighorn Sheep skeleton high above Horseshoe Lake in the Pecos Wilderness.
Iris closeup.
Horsehoe Lake. This picture's not so great, but this is my new favorite lake in the Pecos Wilderness.
Columbine closeup.
The Octopus Car Wash in Albuquerque.
Cheeseburger closeup at the Standard Diner in Albuquerque.
My street! South Pacific St. a half-block down from my house.
On the Las Vegas plaza.
The Las Vegas Batman and his car.
The Las Vegas plaza.
A closeup of my contraband beans. This shot would've never been possible with my point-and-shoot camera.
Lisa hanging out at the end of a bighorn sheep skeleton thorax.
I've passed the entire digital photography revolution trying to make do with a small point-and-shoot camera. The two I've had have both been decent cameras, but the truth is that they were limited. I used to do a lot of manual photography with an SLR film camera, sometimes with good results. After I switched to digital, I was mostly happy with the many advantages of digital. However, over the years, I found myself trying to replicate shots of yore on my point-and-shoot digital, but I was always disappointed. Then, about 6 months ago, my friend, Cheryl, took a real digital photography course at the local university. This was a "real" class in that a digital SLR camera was necessary. Before long, I was green with envy over her fancy new camera. This lead me to long for lost capabilities from old days. I finally coughed up the dinero necessary for a high quality camera, and I must say I'm thrilled with the results. After but four days of ownership, here are a few pix I've taken. Some of these could've never been achieved with a point-and-shoot. The downside is that this new device is massive. I bought it with plans of taking closeups of all the food we eat in Spain in September, but I'm already ruing the colossal size. Isn't there some mythological character who is damned for all eternity to carry something heavy around? Or maybe it's more like I'll be the guy from the chain gang trying to make my escape with an 80 pound camera chained to my leg.
Bighorn Sheep skeleton high above Horseshoe Lake in the Pecos Wilderness.
Iris closeup.
Horsehoe Lake. This picture's not so great, but this is my new favorite lake in the Pecos Wilderness.
Columbine closeup.
The Octopus Car Wash in Albuquerque.
Cheeseburger closeup at the Standard Diner in Albuquerque.
My street! South Pacific St. a half-block down from my house.
On the Las Vegas plaza.
The Las Vegas Batman and his car.
The Las Vegas plaza.
A closeup of my contraband beans. This shot would've never been possible with my point-and-shoot camera.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Jicarita Peak
We climbed Jicarita Peak (12,835 feet) two days ago in the most northern zone of the Pecos Wilderness. It is the premier high country hike on the east side of the Pecos Wilderness near Las Vegas. Here is a picture of us from the top of the peak with the Truchas Peaks in the background:
I took these pix with my cell phone, which explains some of the difficulty I had getting a properly framed shot at times. I'm so excited that I've finally invested in a proper fancy digital SLR camera. It should arrive later this week. Once it does, all crappy photos will be my own fault.
Spook got to go even though this is the floyderdog blog, because he is a perfectly well-behaved hiking partner. He didn't even pretend to misbehave when we observed three bighorn sheep from 30 yards' distance.
Here's the one picture I did not take. There is a story regarding this photo that embodies the very miracle of the internet. I searched Google for a suitable panoramic shot of the Pecos Wilderness so as to show my three readers more or less what Jicarita Peak looks like from a distance. I quickly found the picture. Upon investigating the picture, it turns out that it is part of a promotional website for Talon de Gato Farm in Apodaca, NM. By pure coincidence, their specialty at this farm is pimientos de Padron, a classic Spanish tapa treat and a favorite of mine. I got permission to use this photo. Your should check out their website here and buy some pimientos from them at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market in about a month. This photo shows the north end of the Pecos Wilderness from the west side. Jicarita Peak is the high, pyramidal peak on the left side of the photo. Click on the photo for detail:
Here is a pretty good cellphone shot of some Columbines and Serpent Lake high along the route to Jicarita Peak:
Some Columbines:
Here's final approach to Jicarita Peak. This shows roughly the last 300 vertical feet of the climb out of the 2400 vertical feet from the trailhead five miles distant.
Spook is proving to be the finest hiking dog I've ever known. He stays with the group at all times. He doesn't bark like a lunatic at people or wildlife. He doesn't run off chasing rabbits, elk, or bighorn sheep. He lies down for a nap promptly when we take a break. He's half genius and half dog (i.e. idiot).
Spook again. Here he is taking a drink from a snow field at about 12,500 feet.
I took these pix with my cell phone, which explains some of the difficulty I had getting a properly framed shot at times. I'm so excited that I've finally invested in a proper fancy digital SLR camera. It should arrive later this week. Once it does, all crappy photos will be my own fault.
Spook got to go even though this is the floyderdog blog, because he is a perfectly well-behaved hiking partner. He didn't even pretend to misbehave when we observed three bighorn sheep from 30 yards' distance.
Here's the one picture I did not take. There is a story regarding this photo that embodies the very miracle of the internet. I searched Google for a suitable panoramic shot of the Pecos Wilderness so as to show my three readers more or less what Jicarita Peak looks like from a distance. I quickly found the picture. Upon investigating the picture, it turns out that it is part of a promotional website for Talon de Gato Farm in Apodaca, NM. By pure coincidence, their specialty at this farm is pimientos de Padron, a classic Spanish tapa treat and a favorite of mine. I got permission to use this photo. Your should check out their website here and buy some pimientos from them at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market in about a month. This photo shows the north end of the Pecos Wilderness from the west side. Jicarita Peak is the high, pyramidal peak on the left side of the photo. Click on the photo for detail:
Here is a pretty good cellphone shot of some Columbines and Serpent Lake high along the route to Jicarita Peak:
Some Columbines:
Here's final approach to Jicarita Peak. This shows roughly the last 300 vertical feet of the climb out of the 2400 vertical feet from the trailhead five miles distant.
Spook is proving to be the finest hiking dog I've ever known. He stays with the group at all times. He doesn't bark like a lunatic at people or wildlife. He doesn't run off chasing rabbits, elk, or bighorn sheep. He lies down for a nap promptly when we take a break. He's half genius and half dog (i.e. idiot).
Spook again. Here he is taking a drink from a snow field at about 12,500 feet.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Judias Verdes
On my original trips to Spain, I became enamoured of the green beans they eat over there. They're similar to our green beans, but longer, wider, and more tender. On a trip to the Pyrenees, I recall seeing pyramids of green beans climbing in many gardens. They are a kind of pole bean and are cultivated on a pyramid of support poles. They are super delicious beans, often served sauteed in olive oil with jamon serrano. In Spain, they call their beans "judias," which is also the word for "Jew," so these beans are "green Jews." It would be interesting to hear an authoritative explanation of history why their beans are called "judias."
When Lisa and I visited Spain last September, a package of these precious seeds somehow ended up in our luggage along with some seeds of some Spanish green peppers (pimientos verdes and pimientos de Padron). We've got our crop of beans going now, climbing up our pyramids of split two by fours. I'm so excited, that I'm checking the beans three or four times daily. They're growing really fast right now, maybe 6-8 inches each day. It's crazy. Unless we get some bad hail, I'm expecting to have massive amounts of beans come August and September. The pimientos did not do so well, unfortunately. I've got the pimientos de Padron growing in pots, but they're growing really slowly. We have a friend trying to grow the plain pimientos verdes on his farm where he grows green chile, but last I heard, he hadn't had any luck getting the seeds started (this is a tragedy for me).
A Romantic Moment at the 2010 Las Vegas Fiestas
My parents caught by the paparazzi in a tender moment.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Mesa Verde and Ah Shi Sle Pah WSA Memorial Day 2010
This blog was originally supposed to be about our trip to Spain last fall, but we've done other stuff in the interim. Now we're making plans to go back to Spain in a few months, and I still haven't even done half of my Spain stuff the last trip. I'll have to get back to soon. I don't have time to write about today's photos, but these are pix we took at Mesa Verde National Park and the Ah Shi Sle Pah Wilderness Study Area (my new favorite place) a month ago. I like the pix of Lisa (from the back end) squeezing through passage inside a cliff dwelling and mine (from the front end). We got some pix of the ladders that you climb to get into some of the cliff dwellings (One with Lisa climbing, the other with me)--definitely not for chickens! The flower is really cool. We got a good shot in front of Shiprock. We got some nice of us and the dogs at Ah Shi Sle Pah. Sometimes people wonder what places like Bisti, De Na Zin, Ah Shi Sle Pah really look like aside from the close ups of cool rock formations. One of these pix shows an overview of the Ah Shi Sle Pah area--doesn't look like much until you realy take a close look in person. Floyder decided to take a nap in the tent as we were taking it down.
Married!
Summer comes and I get busy. Too busy for Netflix. Too busy to mess with the PC. My folks are here today for a brief visit. As luck would have it, Lisa and I finally got married two weeks ago (6/18/10), so we'll have a big family celebration to, um, celebrate the whole thing.
A few weeks back, we talked about finally tying the knot. On the 6/14 or 6/15, we visited Unikat in Las Vegas to see if the jeweler could set us up with some "nontraditional rings." We had our rings the next day. A couple of days later, on Friday, Lisa checked on the mechanics of getting a marriage license. We met at the courthouse a couple of hours later to begin completing the documents. She said that her cousin, Eddie the Judge, could marry us "anytime." We said, "How about 6:00 tonight?" He said, "OK." I asked Tom and Cheryl to drop by our house to be our witnesses before their 6:30 dinner party. Joseph, Kathy, and Devin were in town and said, "We're family. We get to come too." That was it. It was over in 25 minutes after the vows, a glass of champagne, and a quick song ("He Venido a Decirte"). We went to dinner at the El Fidel and then to the grocery store to buy a pork roast. That was all.
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About Me
- floyderdog
- Las Vegas, NM, United States
- Floyd was my dog and friend for a third of my life.